San Diegans hit with surging water bills to get temporary relief

Kelli Sandman-Hurley had a water bill for more than $3,300 at her 900-square-foot house in San Carlos corrected after officials confirmed that her meter had been misread.

Kelli Sandman-Hurley had a water bill for more than $3,300 at her 900-square-foot house in San Carlos corrected after officials confirmed that her meter had been misread. (K.C. Alfred/ San Diego Union-Tribune)

Council President Pro Tem Barbara Bry has called for temporary relief for San Diegans who continue to claim the city has charged them for water they didn’t use.

Customers fighting high bills should continue to have access to water as long as they pay an amount equal to their average usage or what they were charged in the previous year during the same time period.

In the last two months, Bry said her office has been flooded with calls from frustrated ratepayers.

“We are hearing from San Diego residents who have complained about inexplicably high water bills and are now at risk of losing service if they do not pay their bills within the normal billing timeline,” Bry wrote in a press statement Tuesday. “We must ensure that San Diegans retain access to water during this investigation.”

The grace period should last until a recently announced internal audit of the Public Utilities Department is completed this June.

City Auditor Eduardo Luna said that he will prioritize the issue and will update the public as the investigation unfolds.

The water department has already implemented similar guidelines, said spokesman Jerry McCormick. “We don’t automatically shut off people’s water. We always try to work with them.”

San Diegans all over the city have expressed concern about unusually high water bills — surging from hundreds to sometimes thousands of dollars.

Officials with the water department have said that often the increase in water use is due to leaky pipes and toilet or overwatering.

However, before paying for a plumber, residents should check the reading on their meters against any unusually high bill. In a number of cases, outrageous charges have been traced by to meter reads.

Customers wishing to contest a bill should call the water department (619) 515-3500 or email at water@sandiego.gov.

In a number of instances, smart meters — known as Advanced Metering Infrastructure, or AMI — have been used by the department to pinpoint usage by date and time of day, locating sources of increased water consumption, officials said.

The city has installed close to 90,000 smart meters, with a full roll-out of the program expected by 2020. Only about 15,000 such meters are currently being read remotely.

The water department makes several thousand bill adjustments a month for a wide variety of reasons, according to a 2013 audit of the department. The department issues roughly 1.8 million bills a year to about 285,000 customers.